24 January 2015

Handwriting competition

Saw this in the morning newspaper: "Children show the write way" : The Hindu, 23 January. Their weblink to the article doesn't seem to be working.Got me smiling about writing. Remember how you first had pencils. A pencil box that contained pencils, sharpner (oh that word is not real) and rubbers (ah that means something other than eraser). Every year before the start of the academic session we would go to the stationery shop, "Prem General Stores" which to me was like visiting wonderland. There wasn't much choice for pencils, but erasers, ooo... the mind boggling shapes and scents, should I get one with "M" or a cute animal. We were allowed only one so that was a tough call. Then in 5th standard we were graduated to using pens - not the ball point wonders, but ink pens. What fun it was to pick out a fountain pen; I was disappointed at being disallowed from getting ink colours other than blue and black, and since the majority used blue, I went with black. Every night I would fill in the ink of the pen and every now and then, end up with a giant bindi that was out of place on my school uniform. Then around 8th or 9th ball point pens came into their own, so it became even cooler to use an ink pen. I had one till about 5 years ago. Used to like writing letters with it and signing important papers - both of which I do rarely now. The article prompted me to take a trip down memory lane.

Our lives centre around our touch screen phone, ipad and computer. D already knows that if she touches a screen, something happens. I do wonder if she will follow the same sequence of penmanship graduation that we did.

1 comment:

Oh the art of penmanship and letter writing... I have some very precious pens, all of which are associated with very special occasions in my mind - two were gifts from two favourite uncles when I started my Phd. Both of them are no more, so I hold onto to the pens as a lasting legacy. I have a Parker from my dad (a gift when I graduated) and a fancy German-made pen from my post-doc advisor as farewell gift from Munich... I look for every opportunity to use them, even if it is to write my lab note book. Oh and now that I am no longer in school, I buy all sorts of inks (the latest being an emerald green one) and when I send birthday cards to my family, I include a letter written in green ink. My 8-year old nephew is now included in the letter-receiving list and I hope to pass on the practice to him.

Much love,S

p.s. Stationary shops and multi-coloured/shaped erasers were my weaknesses too! I really hope that D goes through this rite of passage to acquire a fountain pen. I remember it made me feel all grown-up :)

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About Me

A bar called Shantam Pappum

A series of short stories revolving around Rukmini, the owner of "Shantam Pappum" - a watering hole exclusively for women, that serves only vegetarian food. Rukmini is a widow and her world is the bar, and her clients.